Esquina

15 mins before Esquina (co-founded by Michelin-starred Jason Atherton of London’s Pollen Street Social and Singapore’s Pollen) opened its door, Emma from Dancing Elephant and I were already 3rd in line, even after making a point to reach early. The staff ushered us into the narrow restaurant promptly at noon and we took our seats along the bar counter, all ready to catch the chefs in action!

If you haven’t heard by now, Esquina does an extremely value for money set lunch on weekdays. 3 courses for $39+, menu apparently changes daily (or is that weekly?), and most of them are variations of sorts from the ala carte menu.

Almost every table ordered the salt and pepper squid so of course that had me hankering for a taste of it too. On hindsight, I wouldn’t do it again, since the squid paella and squid ink aioli that came with our mains of seabass had somewhat similar flavours. Talk about squid overdose, haha.

While I wouldn’t call this the best lunch/meal/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, I thought the food was well-executed and of good quality, especially the fresh seabass. I reckon Esquina is worth another visit, maybe for ala carte next. And yes, I’ll even put up with those awfully uncomfortable bar stools =x

roast ox tongue, cumin cous cous, harissa dressing

grilled romaine salad, anchovy, black olive, manchego

salt & pepper squid, black ink aioli ($20+)

seabass, squid paella, squid ink aioli

frozen yogurt, pumpkin cous cous cake, moroccan spiced apricot

Esquina
16 Jiak Chuan Lane
6222 1616

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District 10 Bar Tapas Restaurant

District 10 Bar Tapas Restaurant was surprisingly packed on a Monday night, given that it was still 4 days away to TGIF. Located at The Star Vista (new mall at Buona Vista), this latest addition to The Bonta Group is different from the District 10 flagship at UE Square. Featuring a long open tapas and pinchos bar, no points for guessing what are served here!

Sangria and tapas go hand in hand, aye? Though the classic Spanish red wine punch ($18++) is not found on the drinks menu, I tried my luck and the bartender gamely fixed it for us, cheers! We picked an array of tapas and pinchos to try; like dim sum, there’s always hits and misses. Jumbo crab cakes packed with bits of carrot and onion were our unanimous pick for “favourite District 10 tapa”, followed closely by the bouncy sauteed garlic prawns, missing garlicky taste notwithstanding. Speaking of garlic, we found it strangely AWOL in the sauteed mushrooms too. I really liked the smoked salmon pincho and salmon skewer; the former for the creamy yet not jerlak potato salad (rare compliment from a girl who thinks anything-potato is just useless tummy filler), the latter for the tender cubes of perfectly grilled fish (my usual medium rare).

Fried stuff (no matter how badly done) will never go wrong with alcohol. For bar snacks that’s not run-of-the-mill calamari, try the jamon ham croquette, fried anchovies and “Huevos Rotos” topped with a complete sunny-side up instead of “broken eggs”. Not impressed with the potato tortilla, basically one huge block of layered potato with minimal omelette, no like. The mini beef burger was not bad, likewise the boiled octopus. Either you love or hate the marinated anchovies; an acquired taste for most folks imo, since they rank pretty high on the fishy scale.

I guess District 10 ain’t focusing much on desserts since they almost seem like an afterthought. Only 6 on the menu, none made in-house except for the New York cheesecake. Since I’m not a fan of that, we ordered the next best thing — warm chocolate cake! Forget about the no-vanilla-beans-in-sight vanilla ice cream, just concentrate on the cake. No molten oozing core, but still soft-centred with a thin outer crust. So decadent, very good!

Top left, clockwise: Sauteed Mushroom, Garlic, Parsley ($8++); Manchego Cheese Jamon Croquette ($8.80++); Grilled Salmon Skewers ($14++ for two); Mini Black Angus Cheddar Cheese Burger ($7++); Smoked Salmon with Potato Salad Pincho ($3.80++) and Sauteed Mushroom with Quail Egg Pincho ($3.80++, background); “Huevos Rotos” with Fries and Jamon ($14++); “Pescadito Frito” Fried Anchovies ($12++); Spanish Potato Tortilla ($9.80++).

Jumbo Crab Cakes ($14++)

Boiled Octopus, Potato, Paprika, Olive Oil ($14++)

Marinated Anchovies, Paprika Oil, Parsley ($9++)

Sauteed Garlic Prawns, Olive Oil ($12++)

Warm Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Ice Cream ($14++)

Special thanks to Joy from 37 Communications for the kind invitation!

District 10 Bar Tapas Restaurant
#01-42/K3, The Star Vista
1 Vista Exchange Green
6694 2884

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Sabio Tapas Bar & Restaurant

In anticipation of my trip to Barcelona in Sep, I’ve been in a tapas mood lately so dinner with the friends-of-10-years-and-counting was at Sabio, the latest tapas bar in Singapore. Sabio is the type of place you either love or hate. It’s cramped (a long bar counter and 3 small communal sharing tables), noisy (think atmospheric), crowded (popular drinking hole for expats) and stifling (warm night, that’s why); I can tell that the friends hate it, I’m neutral about it since I’ve been to much smaller and rowdier makan joints in Europe.

Tapas-wise, only the eggplant caviar on roasted garlic toast ($11++) left a deep impression. It’s cold, flavourful, and made a wonderful spread on the crispy toast. Fried potatoes with garlic mayo ($8++) are essentially overpriced potato wedges (zzz), not the cubed form which I prefer. I love salt cod after having it almost everyday while in Venice and Verona, but the bacalao with red capsicum ($18++) here ain’t nice. Too tough and chewy. Tortilla espanola a.k.a. traditional potato and onion omelette ($10++) was so-so, better ones can be found at (imo) My Little Spanish Place and Don Quijote. Chicken and seafood paella ($22++) was a real disappointment.. So wet and soggy, me no like.

Sabio Tapas Bar & Restaurant 
5 Duxton Hill
6223 4645

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My Little Spanish Place

After a taste of fantastic Spanish cuisine at Don Quijote, I was hooked and wanted more. So it’s off to My Little Spanish Place for more tapas and paella!

There are a few no-fail tapas I’ll always order, like tortilla (potato omelette) and garlic prawns. As expected, those are good, as well as the fried potatoes. Skip the mushroom stacks since they ain’t anything special, and expensive to boot. From the ‘raciones’ (essentially bigger portions of tapas) section, I love the stewed chickpeas as the cooking process rendered those little garbanzo beans so tender and soft. As for the squid ink paella, I prefer Don Quijote’s since the version here was drier and the flavour not as intense.

Overall, worth a try if you need a Spanish fix!

In the meantime, ciao~

Traditional egg omelette ($6++) with potatoes and onions, served with homemade alioli. This is supposedly the national dish of Spain!

Garlic prawns ($12.90++) in white wine and olive oil.

Patatas Bravas ($6++) are literally “fierce potatoes”, i.e. lightly fried potato chunks in a spicy sauce which is actually not spicy at all.

Mushroom stacks flavoured with garlic and olive oil ($14.90++). Yawn.

Classic Spanish dish of chickpeas stewed with chorizo ($10.50++). Reminds me of ‘kachang putei’, haha.

Black ink paella ($39++): rice with squid and prawns.

This is cooked to order so there’s a waiting time of approximately 35 mins.

My Little Spanish Place
619 Bukit Timah Road 
 6463 2810

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Don Quijote

Unlike Italian or French cuisine, Spanish food has never really taken off in Singapore. I can only wonder why. Anyway, there’s only a handful of places serving so-called authentic Spanish chow, and Don Quijote is one of them!

My first time trying Sangria ($55++ for a jug) and it’s great! Like a sophisticated fruit punch, perfect for insanely hot summer days like the ones we’ve been experiencing these days!

The menu has an impressive range of hot and cold tapas, salads, soups, pasta, meats and rice. There’s definitely something for everyone!

Setas al Ajillo ($9++): Garlic fried mix mushrooms.

Gambas al Ajillo ($16++): Garlic fried shrimps.

Tortilla Espanola ($11++): Spanish style omelette layered with potatoes.

Rollitos de Salmón y Queso Crema ($10++): Salmon rolls stuffed with cream cheese and lettuce.

Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos de Atún ($19++): Tuna wrapped in red peppers.

Arroz Negro ($30++ for small): Squid ink paella cooked in pan, takes at least 25-35 mins.

I think we pretty much hit the jackpot today cuz everything we ordered was delicious! Ok, a couple of tapas, like the smoked salmon rolls and stuffed tuna, were rather normal, but still agreeable. Highlight for me was the paella! It was soooooo good. Imagine all the umami packed into those little grains of al dente rice. Incredible! I don’t even like rice, and I’m raving about it.

Amazing.

Don Quijote
#01-02, Block 7 Dempsey Road
6476 2811

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Cocina de Pasion

I love it when there’s new restaurants to explore, especially so when they are located near my home. Cocina de Pasion, a Spanish restaurant, is the latest addition along Tanjong Katong Road. The menu is pretty comprehensive, covering a variety of tapas and mains. It was quite empty on the weekday night we were there and prices are so low reasonable that the accountant in me fears for its going concern.

I’m not familiar with Spanish food and this is my first time trying paella ($16.90), an oven baked rice dish with chicken, squid, shrimp, fish, mussel and vegetables. Sounds like a feast and looks like a feast too! I thought this is somewhat like the Italian risotto, nicely al dente, slightly “wet” and quite flavourful. Not bad, I must try the authentic paella in Spain soon to find out what’s the real deal!

Since this is a Spanish restaurant, we ordered tapas to share as well. Personal favourites include gambas: sautéed shrimps with garlic ($8) and button mushrooms in cream sauce ($7). Egg omelette tortilla ($6), quesadilla ($6) and chicken nachos ($6.50) were nice but nothing outstanding. We had churros with chocolate sauce ($4.50) for desserts and those were just average.

Oh ya, which reminds me. Where did you have the best churros? Mine was from LA Disneyland when I was 10! Hee. I guess everything tastes good when you are 10.

Cocina de Pasion
287 Tanjong Katong Road
6348 0508

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